Will the real Rangers please stand up?

It’s always confusing when you play a great game against a bad opponent that plays horribly. It’s is also confusing if you beat a good team, which is what the Rangers need to do tonight … unless they are tanking, which apparently they aren’t doing. Or at least, they didn’t get that memo last night.

1) Nice to see Marian Gaborik turn on the jets as he did early in the season. He’s almost blameless in this whole season (except for the Olympic injury controversy), but when he plays and moves like that, you can understand why John Tortorella gets frustrated with him at other times.

2) Ditto for Sean Avery. I assume he will be himself tonight vs. the Devils, because he is always that way against the Devils, the Islanders and the Flyers. Look out Kovalchuk and Brodeur. But where is this most nights? Coach Keenan wondered the same thing (so now, I guess, I’m stealing his stuff).

3) It’s easy for a lot of guys to look good when the other team spends most of the night A) distracted by Avery or B) getting out of the way. I mean, how about all those breakaways? And posts? I mean, Girardi scored. Let’s see ‘em get more than one goal tonight.

4) In a game like that, I prefer to look at who did what early. And early, Anisimov scored on a terrific shot (Shelley got an assist because, I think, the puck hit him). I know more might have been expected from Anisimov, but considering how much time he’s spent playing with stiffs on the third and fourth lines, and how good defensively he is, I think this has been a pretty darn decent rookie year for him.

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PS, I’m finally getting away from the hardwood for a night. Going to Newark for the game (unless we have another hurricane or some other unexpected disaster at blog HQ).

Holy cow! Carp is going to the game and I am coming up from philly to go too! WHOOOOOOOO! section 211 is where all the cool people are sitting. Leaving Philly now for the bus to nyc! Will be rocking (at the rock..hehe) the Gaborik jersey for the first time!

anyway 5-3 was brutal again last night and the crowd is all over roszival to SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT…of course the captain is standing still for almost the full two minutes…its amazing every other team in the league tries the slam dunk down low with the quick lateral pass or the diagonal pass when one of the pointmen tries to sneak in…but our boys in blue try to setup gaborik to take a shot from the point,,,keep trying torts practice it again tomorrow before toronto!

The Devils are also still playing for the division title or at least home ice.

As for their main competitors for the Atlantic title, notice how Pittsburgh is like 0-7-2 vs the Devils and the Caps. Fleury has looked pretty shaky as of late (even going back to their game at MSG). I wouldn’t be surprised if the Caps have an easy run to the finals.

4-6-8, Umm, what? You mean play the 4-6-8? I never put down the trifecta. Even with boxing them, too many variables for that to come in. I prefer to play according to the jockey and/or trainer that has the hot hand.

LinDDDa, I can’t imagine he’d change that lineup. But I wasn’t at the morning skate.

Adam, obviously the old Original Six rinks were the best: Chicago Stadium, Montreal Forum, Boston Garden. Not so much Maple Leaf Gardens for some reason.

Chicago Stadium: The pure noise was awesome, loudest building, the first to have the fog horn after goals (would knock you out of your seat) and the pipe organ. Montreal Forum was history everywhere you went and the best hot dogs (chien chaud, I believe they were called, though that spelling is probably way off; anybody know French?). Boston Garden’s pressbox was directly over the benches. You had to lean over to see the players and coaches, and close to the ice, which was smaller than other rinks. Plus you had the rats and roaches (I remember Messier during an post-game interview reaching over reporters to flick a roach off John Dellapina’s shoulder).

i’ll have to investigate then. OMG flipping a roach off someones shoulder! I remember being at a theater in manhattan with my boyfriend at the time, we had to actually STAND because there were no seats left. A few minutes into the movie I see something, out of the corner of my eye, dropping down from the ceiling. It was the hugest roach i had seen until that point, and landed on his arm. EEEEWWW

anyway CR, we’ve had several 5 on 3’s this year, each looking more horrendous that the last. These guys have got to become more accurate with their shots, and rid themselves of the remaining SHOOTS WIDE Higginsitis!

Were the Florida Panthers playing at home when that whole rat trick craze started on their run to the finals in 1996? Why am I thinking it got started after they killed a rat in their lockerroom in Boston?

Carp, I looked it up. It was before the Puddy Cats home opener that year. It just didn’t catch on en masse until they made the playoffs.

I remember one of the more famous pictures from that playoff year was Tom Barrasso sitting in his net waiting for the ice crew to clean up the plastic rats from the ice. Can you imagine the whining that Sid the Kid would do if that happened to him in the playoffs?

I think Anisimov has done VERY well this year. He has played far fewer minutes than Drury, with lesser line mates, with no center on the team to show him how it is done properly, and still has almost as many points as Drury!!

Give him some consistent wingers and solid minutes, I think he scores 40-50 points next year.

I sat in the pressbox at HSBC Arena in Buffalo about 9 years ago(I was there with my sports media/communications class. The prof was my school’s AD). Place was pretty nice. Best part of that night was seeing Wayne Gretzky getting off an elevator not 30 feet from us. We had to play it cool, but the whole class (all 12 of us) was in awe.

the idea behind trading Hank is to get better faster, not to be stuck in this continues rut of 8th place, 7th place, no playoffs. they are not cup contenders this season or in the foreseeable future, you seeem OK with that, I am not. one round and out gets real old after awhile.”

With apologies for the late response (if for nothing else), bull dog, that’s some great extrapolating you’ve done to surmise that being against a Lundqvist trade means I’m OK with how things are. I’ve clearly said no such thing.

Quite agree with you and most others that getting rid of the toxic D-men contracts is the first step. I’m not sure how spending most of the money on Kovalchuk solves the deficiencies at center and defense, and I’ve missed your plan for finding a goalie in 1-2 years that turns this team into a Cup contender in Lundqvist’s absence. Since whoever that guy is has to almost guarantee contention, or it’s not worth it, right? Which isn’t a premise all that far away from those who don’t want Lundqvist traded…

I agree with you Carp, Anisimov has had a solid rookie year, and he will onyl get better. he’s got the size and hands to be a dominat player in years to come.

And it’s either we squeeze into 8th (or 7th if Philly totally implodes) or place in 9th or 10th.

Im all for making the playoffs, but even if we do, I have no illusions we’ll go that far. Just to give DEl Z, AA and Gilroy experience would be worth it.

Its in there hands now, so shoudl be an exciting or terrible last 9 games.

Avery will def get into some antics tonight. As I bet PRust and Shelley will too.

And I’ve alwyas wanted to see it, but i WISH the NYR would have a third JErsey in the DARK BLUE that the LIberty ones were. THin abotu it, if they jsut changed the color, and kept overything else it would be pretty sweet looking. Even with NEW YORK or Rangers Across it.
Just my opinion

I was really hoping the Rangers would lose last night…as hard as it is to root against the Rangers, getting a top 5 pick (granted Sather doesn’t Bufuyglien it up) would be a seriously positive step in the right direction, adding a big talent to an already decent looking class of prospects.
But…playoff hockey is playoff hockey. And the Rangers do not have to win out anymore. They’re 6 points behind Philly…Philly has a tough schedule against Minnesota tonight, then Pittsburgh, Debbies, Montreal and Detroit, with one gimme against the Isles (it is if they play the way they did last night) before we take them on in the final two games. Given that we leap frog the Thrashers which is not a given, all we need to do is gain two points on Philly going into the final games and we can control our own playoff fate.
Not where I want to be, but unfortunately that is a very distinct possibility. And you know at that point you won’t be able to help but jump back on the bandwagon. Still, we have plenty of games to go for them to blow it so don’t start drinking the kool-aid yet.

rangers are 6 pts behind flyers. they have to beat them in reg time in their 2 games, and they have to also win on a night that philly loses, and they have to also lose in OT on another night the flyers lose

then, the rangers will beat them out by one pt

flyers now have 5 more wins than rangers, so a tiebreaker would be in their favor

all this also assumes that atl will just play .500 down the stretch and the rangers will pass them as well.

Speaking of Roaches: one night I was hungry so we got chinese food from 167th st and Jerome ave , I was gulping down the won ton soup and there on the bottom of the container was an ity bity roach, the soup was so hot it was added protein.

Another time I was drinking capuchino in the Bx arthur ave, and I thought I had scalded milk in my mouth , it was a roach all steamed and fresh.

And lastly another chinese food from Mt. vernon eating the fried rich and there it is all 1 1/2 inches of roach.

I totally Agree about Anisimov Carp. Its forgotten sometimes that he is a rookie. he has had a solid rookie year. remember that he wasn’t special his first year in the AHL either but made huge strides in his second year. He will have a better second year in the NHL as he plays well defensively and seems to have a good Hockey IQ. He needs to adjust to things a bit more and be more confident. I think that he will eventually be a solid second line center though he does need to add weight if he is to be that.

I would be up fpr trading our #1 this year for whatever we can get. it is a very week draft. Hall,Seguin, Fowler, Tarasenko, Neideritter. after that its a bunch of projects and depth guys. If we can package Redden and our #1 for a so so physical defender with roughly 1/2 redden’s cap hit then i would be all for it. Some one in the mold of Cory Sarich

morg
from yesterday’s post, sorry busy day, witt would be the perfect mentor for any d man we want to play with an edge or a stay at home type. I think he is EXACTLY the type of d man this team needs a couple of. That being said, any hitting or physical d man would be an improvement over what we have!

shelley has more hockey sense than an of the last 3 heavyweights we have had. On their first shift when the d man pinched in from the blueline, shelley went out and took the spot. Most of our top nine forwatrds can’t even figure that one out! He isn’t going to confuse anyone for iginla or anything, but as heavyweights go, I’d be happy to keep him!

I dissagree the Rock is a excellent hockey arena. I got spoiled the 1st 2 times in a skybox and a 3rd 12 rows up @ the blue line. But St.Pat’s day for $20 bucks sat all the way up in a corner and it was a great viewing seat. Everything else is layed out well. The problem is the fans, worst in the league, by far, just don’t know the game and the concessions are thru the roof. A+ for viewing a game though. BTW what’s with the Garden’s music every single second the play stops, ease it up boys amkes us look second rate.

Witt hasn’t exactly been the model of health the last couple of seasons. And as much I know the +/- stat is very hollow and can be artificially increased/decreased by overall team play, a -60 over the last 3 seasons is pretty poor in any context. On a team like the Islanders that needs as much veteran presence as they can get they still chose to decide to waive him and no one picked him up.

If they have the roster and cap space, I’d go after Willie Mitchell during free agency. He made slightly more than Witt, but he’s been a part of much better defensive teams in Vancouver.

LW3H said:
with apologies for the late response (if for nothing else), bull dog, that’s some great extrapolating you’ve done to surmise that being against a Lundqvist trade means I’m OK with how things are. I’ve clearly said no such thing.

Bulldog was commenting on an idea I had and Im glad someone sees it the way I do. Thanks Bulldog!!! Keeping Hank at this stage is absolutely stuiped. If we are buyers and are going for the cup, You HAVE to keep Hank. No one hear thinks we are gonna make it or if we make it , we wont do anything in the playoffs. So why spend & million buck on a wonky goalie who cant seem to shake the “softie” tag. Hang will always keep us hoving around 9th place. To me , thats as much as waste as R & R and Drury.

I think the Rangers have the right type of role players, they just need the impact talent. Callahan/Avery/Boyle/Dubinsky can be useful in particular roles, but all are prone to going through long stretches of mediocre play or cannot produce points consistently enough to justify top 6 even strength minutes.

Look at Henrik’s stats compared to Ryan Miller over their careers or MA Fleury’s. It’s only this year that Miller has substantially better stats than Lundqvist and Lundqvist has pretty much outplayed Fleury in every single season they’ve been in the league. The difference is that the teams in front of them can score for their goalies. Lundqvist routinely goes through long stretches where he allows 2 or less goals or less than 3.

Another roach story … in the Nassau Coliseum press dining room, after the dynasty. Clark Gillies is in there, goes to pour a cup of coffee from one of those giant plastic coffee thermos things, and the spout makes a little plop sound and this roach falls right into Gillies’ cup, belly up.

the roaches here are freakin tremendous! you can actually put a saddle and seatbelt on them and they’ll take you to work. Scare the living hell out of me. And it’s funny how some of the southerners call the ‘palmetto bugs’ their firetruckin roaches on roids!

Anisimov has done well this year. I’m very happy with him and see lots of potential. He’s hit like 5 posts and had a few wraparounds been almost goals so he could have had 18 by now. He’s a smart guy from his interviews and knows what he needs to work on (skating and gain weight). He’ll be better next year.

The draft this year isn’t weak at all Tyree. A lot of potential sleepers like Kabanov, Johannsen, Etem Connolly, the 3 big Dmen, and Mark Tinordi’s kid Jared who is 6’5” already.

Yo Billybleedsblue , Maybe Torts was kicked outta the practice!!? cuz he sure had a puzzled look on his face when Gaborik passed it to Delzotto and scored. Torts rubbed his chin and shook his head and mumbles something about thats why they wanted me to leave.

Greg L. who knows? He sure did look surprised at that play. I was surprised too. I’ve been wanting to see some kind of sign like that on the powerplay all season. It actually looked like they practiced that play! Wasn’t exactly Gretzky and Leetch, but a play like that can help open the pk’ers up a bit and produce some goals. If you establish that play, it makes Gaborik more dangerous too when he actually shoots instead of making the pass.

It’s still too little too late though. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see this team in the post season every year…I just don’t think they have it this time. But who knows with Philly on the skids and all…

If you’re interested in seeing a young Jagr, with his Rangers haircut, you should check out the HBO show “The Pacific”. I brought it up the other night. Jagr’s twin is on the show. He has the face of a Penguins Jagr, and the hair of a Rangers Jagr. You might like him. Here’s his pic.

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